Continued from Monday…….

A series of images quickly materialized, each different in its own way, but sharing a few consistent factors:

1) All beverages arrive very cold and maintain this temperature, regardless of time spent lingering over them or how hot the ambient temperature is.

2) I do not have to share my food or drink with anyone. This erases the inevitable anxiety that would send me into a tailspin of internal questions (see example of detail obsession from Friday’s post).

So while the other mothers-to-be in my birthing class are picturing cherub-like babies smiling up out of a giant head of cabbage (a la an Anne Geddes photograph), I am cycling through the following:

· An ice cold martini with a twist

· A champagne flute filled with bubbly goodness alongside a plate of oysters on the half shell. Sorry Louisiana, but since price and location are not factors in my fantasy, these oysters hail from the Pacific. Small, salty, and dressed ONLY with lemon, they glitter in the sunlight which does nothing to alter their temperature.

· A perfectly made pisco sour. In my fantasy I select Cure as the purveyor of said pisco sour, but I want mine served in a chilled martini glass (as my father-in-law serves his) and not one of those mickey mouse glasses that Cure serves theirs in. The pisco sour is served with a plate of perfect white fish ceviche – in cubes, not strips – accompanied by traditional Peruvian accoutrements (sweet potato and crunchy Peruvian corn).

· And finally, THE TRIFECTA. I once claimed that the trifecta of Sapporo (preferably from a tap), unfiltered sake, and miso soup could cure any ailment, where thine ailment is the Monday blues or a common cold. The trifecta is followed by more of the first two components (beer and sake) and a boat of sashimi. I’ve never been bold enough to order a boat of sashimi, but I’ve always wanted to. In my fantasy the boat is so large it must be brought out on a wheeled tray. Likewise, I move from my seat at the table to a well-oiled wheeled stool for better mobility so that I can access all parts of the boat equally.

Friends, I’d like to ask your advice on where you think I should reconcile these fantasies (particularly the last two) in the New Orleans area come October. While I’m hoping my visualizations will balm the pains of labor as they have the pain of holding ice cubes (how we practice in class), I am also hoping to make them realities once I’m back in business. Any suggestions would be much appreciated.